Friday, August 5, 2011

Best Boss Battles in Gaming History - Part Two

This article features spoilers, so please tread carefully. Warning given.

It was just one week ago that I introduced a new segment to the lineup here at SuperPhillip Central, and it turned out that it was pretty popular. It's time to give the people what they want and give them more Best Boss Battles in Gaming History! If you missed out on Part One, just click the appropriate link to magically be transported to your destination. Without any further ado, it's time for more close encounters of the epic kind!

Gruntilda - Banjo-Kazooie (N64)

After besting her at her own game show, The Furnace of Doom, Gruntilda retreats to the top of her castle. Banjo with Kazooie in tow closely follow, and soon the final battle begins. Starting off the fight, Gruntilda jets on her broomstick and aims to ram into bear and bird. When her broomstick stalls, the player should leap onto the ledge of the tower and chuck a plethora of eggs at old ugly's rear to damage her. After doing this enough, a new phase of battle with begin. Grunty will launch a homing attack that can only be avoided by Kazooie shielding Banjo with the help of the golden feather ability. Throwing firecrackers at Banjo, Gruntilda moves around the arena, and the heroic bear must time his egg shots carefully unless he desires to get burned. Once enough damage has been taken, Grunty will retreat to the skies.

Utilizing some air combat (aka ramming into Gruntilda while avoiding her aerial firecrackers), will take the nefarious witch back down to earth for the time being. A shield will then appear around Gruntilda and Jinjo statues will arise all around the arena, ready for Banjo to launch a few eggs into to activate them. Activating these statues will free the almighty Jinjo from its statue prison and strike the shield of Gruntilda. After all of the Jinjos have been freed and have attacked Grunty, the mighty Jinjonator statue will rise up from the center of the arena. Shooting eggs into all four sides of the statue while avoiding Grunty's fast and furious firecrackers and homing attacks will activate a final blast of Jinjo power that will knock Gruntilda over the edge of her tower and with a long fall to Spiral Mountain below, her evil reign will be vanquished.Kaptain K. Rool - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)

From pirate ships to castle keeps, Diddy and Dixie Kong (no relation) have had a long journey in their mutual quest to rescue their pal, Donkey Kong. One final encounter stands in their way, and it's a tough one against the sinister Kaptain K. Rool. This Kremling just won't give up! The battle begins with K. Rool launching a cannonball from his launcher. He then propels himself to the other side of the arena. His launcher has the ability to suction anything near him, including the Kongs. Unfortunately for him that ability can also be used against him. By chucking said cannonball into the launcher, the launcher will backfire, damaging K. Rool. The next go-round, K. Rool shoots out a spiked ball in the center of the arena. The Kongs must avoid this while dodging the propelled K. Rool who zooms across the battlefield. After the bad ol' Kap'n halts to a stop, he resumes vacuuming, and the spiked ball retracts its sharp barbs, allowing Diddy or Dixie to pick up and chuck into K. Rool's launcher, once again doing damage to him. This pattern continues once more, but this time two spiked balls are shot out. Once K. Rool is damaged, he falls to the ground, and victory is retrieved as Donkey Kong falls from the sky. However, the encounter isn't over. Kaptain K. Rool rises up, and the battle continues.

Donkey Kong gets hoisted back up, and K. Rool shoots out multiple spiked cannonballs at varying heights that the Kongs must duck and jump over. A final shot reveals a barrel that one of the Kongs must leap on to unveil a cannonball to chuck into K. Rool's launcher. The next barrage of balls bounce up and down at different heights, then after that, the spiked balls circle around as they scroll across the screen. Bouncing on the barrel and chucking the exposed cannonball into K. Rool's mouth of the weapon will once again make the krooked Kremling fall to the ground in defeat.

Fooling the player into thinking they've won once more, K. Rool shoots out blue and red amoeba blasts. If these touch the Kongs, the player's controls will become inverse, left is now right and right is now left. As K. Rool jets across the room, with each pass he'll become more and more transparent. The Kongs will have to endure three rounds of this varying attack pattern, tossing cannonballs into the mouth of K. Rool's weapon before he is finally defeated. Donkey Kong breaks free from his roped restraints, attacks K. Rool with a powerful uppercut, sending the Kaptain krashing down Crocodile Isle and into the sea below.

Dr. Wily - Mega Man 7 (SNES)

Dr. Albert Wily just never seems to give up. After his eight new Robot Masters have been destroyed once more, Wily aims to take out the blue bomber himself in one of the most difficult battles in series's history. There's two parts to this fight, and the first is relatively and deceivingly easy. Dr. Wily's two-legged skull robot marches into the arena, crossing the screen, dipping and rising as he goes. It's when Dr. Wily rises that Mega Man should slide underneath him to avoid damage. This is all the while attacking the open window of the skull's left eye to do damage to the dastardly robotic menace. Occasionally, Wily will launch two mini-robots to foil Mega Man in his plan to take down the mad scientist. However with enough practice and patience, round one of this fight goes to the blue bomber.

Round two is a bit more challenging as Wily teleports around the room, shooting off four small, elemental spheres that if they touch Mega, will inflict a certain type of damage to him. Blue spheres will temporarily freeze Mega Man, red will burn him to a crisp, and white will shock him. Then Dr. Wily zaps the ground with a bolt of lightning which disperses into four shockwaves. Suffice to say the elemental spheres home in on Mega, and these are very hard to avoid making this battle one that the player should definitely stock up on E-tanks. It's a battle of endurance, and the fate of the 20XX world depends on it, Mega Man!

Doomsday Robotnik - Sonic & Knuckles (GEN)

If Sonic does not collect all of the Chaos Emeralds, then the final boss of Sonic & Knuckles occurs at the Death Egg Zone, but we'll assume the player gathered all seven of them and reached a desperate Dr. Robotnik as he escapes through space with Angel Island's Master Emerald in The Doomsday Zone. With the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic transforms like a flash of lightning into the omnipotent Super Sonic!

The Doomsday Zone logo pops up, and the action quickly begins. Super Sonic must make his way to Robotnik's cruiser which holds the Master Emerald. By bobbing and weaving through asteroids and missiles alike, Super Sonic must collect rings as his count slowly trickles down. If it hits zero, the player loses a life and must start the chase anew. Once Super Sonic catches up to Dr. Robotnik, he should circle around the crooked doctor's device, allowing Robotnik's own missiles to slam into the face of his own robot. With enough missiles doing damage to Robotnik, the second phase will begin.

A faster robotic creation will emerge from the mechanical beast with Master Emerald in tow. This time all that is needed is for Super Sonic to dodge the capsules that Robotnik launches from his machine and boost into the head of the robot. After several hits Robotnik will once again have his sinister plans foiled, and the Master Emerald will be back where it belongs at Angel Island.

Ganon - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

Just like the Hyrulian legend stated, the Hero of Time would go up against an ancient evil. After playing ping-pong with Ganondorf's magic and after his castle falls down around him, the evil pig beast known as Ganon rises from the ashes. It's only with Princess Zelda's help that Link can defeat him and rescue Hyrule from Ganon's grasp.

Ganondorf gathers strength from the Triforce of Power, summons a circle of fire around the arena, transforms into the beast-like Ganon, and smacks away the Master Sword from the Hero of Time. Without his trusty sword, this confrontation is set to be a perilous one. The evil is weakened by rolling between his legs and striking Ganon's tail with whatever weapon the player sees fit. Those seemingly useless Deku Nuts come quite in handy in this battle. Ganon soon falls to the ground in agony, weakening the flame force field that surrounded the battlefield, allowing Link to pick up the Master Sword and damage Ganon.

With enough pain given to the Evil King, Ganon will once again fall to the floor. Princess Zelda will hold him down with her magic, allowing Link to distribute the final blows to evil reincarnate. The Six Sages gather their power and chuck Ganon back into the Evil Realm where he belongs. Hyrule is saved, and a wonderful ending is in store for the player-- a wonderful ending for a truly tremendous title.

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That just about wraps it up for Part Two of Best Boss Battles in Gaming History. What did you think? What are your favorite boss encounters of gaming past? Let everyone know in the comments section. Perhaps your favorites will appear in a future installment!